Abstract [en]

Interfacial adhesion between immiscible cellulose–polymer interfaces is a crucial property for fibrous biocomposites. To tailor the interfacial adhesion, the grafting of polymers from cellulose films was studied using ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone. The poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) grafted cellulose was analyzed with FTIR, AFM and via water CA measurements. The graft length was varied by the addition of a free initiator, enabling tailoring of the interfacial toughness. Films of microfibrillated cellulose were grafted with PCL and hot-pressed together with a PCL-film to form a bilayer laminate. Interfacial peeling toughness correlates very strongly with PCL degree of polymerization (DP). PCL grafts form physical entanglements in the PCL matrix and promote significant plastic deformation in the PCL bulk, thus increasing interfacial peeling energy.

Fogelström, Linda

Abstract [en]

The introduction of a nanoscopic reinforcing phase to a polymer matrix offers great possibilities of obtaining improved properties, enabling applications outside the boundaries of traditional composites.

The majority of the work in this thesis has been devoted to polymer/clay nanocomposites in coating applications, using the hydroxyl-functional hyperbranched polyester Boltorn® as matrix and montmorillonite clay as nanofiller. Nanocomposites with a high degree of exfoliation were readily prepared using the straightforward solution-intercalation method with water as solvent. Hard and scratch-resistant coatings with preserved flexibility and transparency were obtained, and acrylate functionalization of Boltorn® rendered a UV-curable system with similar property improvements. In order to elucidate the effect of the dendritic architecture on the exfoliation process, a comparative study on the hyperbranched polyester Boltorn® and a linear analogue of this polymer was performed. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy confirmed the superior efficiency of the hyperbranched polymer in the preparation of this type of nanocomposites.

Additionally, an objective of this thesis was to investigate how cellulose nanofibers can be utilized in high performance polymer nanocomposites. A reactive cellulose “nanopaper” template was combined with a hydrophilic hyperbranched thermoset matrix, resulting in a unique nanocomposite with significantly enhanced properties. Moreover, in order to fully utilize the great potential of cellulose nanofibers as reinforcement in hydrophobic polymer matrices, the hydrophilic surface of cellulose needs to be modified in order to improve the compatibility. For this, a grafting-from approach was explored, using ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone (CL) from microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), resulting in PCL-modified MFC. It was found that the hydrophobicity of the cellulose surfaces increased with longer graft lengths, and that polymer grafting rendered a smoother surface morphology. Subsequently, PCL-grafted MFC film/PCL film bilayer laminates were prepared in order to investigate the interfacial adhesion. Peel tests demonstrated a gradual increase in the interfacial adhesion with increasing graft lengths.